Nalecz herb

For each herb [clan shield, coat of arms] the blazon or verbal description of the arms is first given in authentic heraldic style, followed by a translation from the Polish description by Niesiecki. The right and left sides of a shield are identified from the standpoint of the bearer, i. e., the one holding the shield. His right would be your left and vice versa. The tinctures (colors) in heraldry are as follows: azure = blue, gules = red; sable = black; or = gold, argent = silver; vert = green. In heraldry all charges (pictures) on a shield are assumed to be facing dexter (right side) unless otherwise specified. In Polish heraldry all animals or birds are assumed to be in their natural coloring unless otherwise specified.

Arms: gules, a scarf displayed in a circle knotted, the ends pointing to the dexter and sinister base. For a crest, out of a ducal coronet between a pair of deer antlers, a maiden vested and crined, about her head a tied headband, the ends flotant, all natural.

In the third volume of this work, on page 202, I described the Nalecz arms, which the house of the Czarnowski's once used in their seal, as did the Morawski's in their day, too, as far as I know. I wrote there regarding the origins of the Nalecz arms.* More commonly, however, they are used in Poland in this form, with a white band, arranged in a circle and knotted, upon a red field. On the helmet a maiden is seen standing between a pair of deer antlers in such a fashion that she is holding an antler in each hand. Upon her head is a headband with an end visible on either side of her head. [Translator's Note: the word nalecz means "sash" or "kerchief']. This is how these arms are described by Okolski, Vol. 2, p. 248, and Paprocki in O herbach, p. 150.

*(Translator's Note: this is what Niesiecki writes about these arms' origin in the entry for "Czarnkowski or Nalecz." "Paprocki, in Gniazdo cnoty [Nest of Virtue], gives the origins of Nalecz arms as follows. Mieczyslaw, the first Christian among the Polish kings [i. e., Mieszko I], wanted his subjects to worship the same God he did, and induced them to accept the true faith and recognize God, in some cases by scaring them, :n others by doing good works. When Gniewomir, duke of Czlopa, was reborn :o heaven through Holy Baptism, Mieczyslaw was gladdened by this and took the baptismal kerchief from his head and gave it to him and granted him these arms. But this author corrected himself in his later book on arms, and said rightly that it was not Gniewomir but Dzierzykraj, prince of Czlopa, to whom Mieczyslaw showed this favor." Later Niesiecki cites a source who proved "that the Czarnkowski's do not come from those Naleczes who have a tied kerchief in their arms, but from Dzierzykraj, prince of Czlopa, whom Boleslaw the Brave presented for baptism. Boleslaw gave him as a keepsake a Nalonia (the name then, as now, for the cloth with which Christ was covered after he had been stripped of His garments and crucified) tied in a circle, for his arms; and later the name Nalonia was corrupted to Nalecz."]

To be sure, not all those listed here use Nalecz arms in the same form. The Pirawski family adds to the tied kerchief three stars, one over the kerchief, the other two on either side of it. The Sterpinski family has the kerchief turned upward, with a star in the middle of the circle and a cross between the kerchiefs ends. The Dybowski family in Lithuania displays three gradient rectangles, and three ostrich feathers on the helmet. Some show the kerchief tied in a knot, some show a single loose loop, while others show two knots. The Nowosielski family in Volhynia puts an arrow over the kerchief, point upward, and five ostrich feathers on the helmet. Petrasancta's book describing foreign arms has none similar to Nalecz, from which it seems that these arms had their beginnings in Poland. It is, however, certain that in Spain there was once an Ordo Equitum Bandae [Order of the Knights of the Band] of which z Mariany Miraeus Chroni. says the following under the year 1332: "Alfonso, King of CastilIe, founded in Spain a new knightly order, called the Banda-in the vernacular tongue of the Spaniards bando is a fillet or head-band-red in color, four inches wide, which these knights wrap about their bodies, from the right shoulder to the left forearm, as an insignia of honor. Freeborn men who have spent a minimum of ten years in military service and have been in remote places are chosen for the order; only sons of nobles are eligible, older ones excluded. The king himself was Master of this Society. This order was held for a long time in high regard, but died out at home due to the kings' indifference."

P. Bonani in Ordines Equestr. [Knightly Orders] says on page 11 about this same order, "It was once a custom in Spain that the Equites Tyrones, before they were elected into the Order, kept watch for a night in prayer before the altar, with their arms laid down, and the next day during Mass service were given a military sash or red band four inches wide as an honor. They were called in Spain Equites Bindae [Knights of the Band]." Of the latter the same author says on page 87, "The Equites nodi [Knights of the Girdle] in the Kingdom of Naples are different. For when Louis was the king of Lower Pannonia [a region of western Hungary and the northwestern Balkan Peninsula], he made war on Queen Joan, who was the heir to the kingdom. After various rebellions and vicissitudes of war, peace was made in 1351, and Louis of Taranto was summoned by order of Clement VI and was crowned King. He married Joan, in whose memory this order was founded, for they bind the forearm with a girdle."

Ancestors of This House

Długosz includes Piotr, Archbishop of Gniezno in 1059, as a member of Nalecz clan, but Damalewicz, in Vitae Archiep. Gnesn. [Lives o f the Archbishops of Gniezno], has him of Leszczyc arms, which is where I spoke of him. Piotr or Piotrowin, whom St. Stanislaw, Bishop of Kraków, brought from the grave and raised from the dead, was of these arms, according to Pruszcz in Forteca, p. 45. M. Baronius claims that he showed himself, going to heaven and thanking him for his prayers, to St. Stanislaw while the latter was living in great glory, and that people experienced various acts of grace by his grave at Piotrowin.

Szymon Nalecz was Kalisz castellan in 1264. Mikolaj was Kraków palatinate in 1260, and this or another Mikolaj was Kraków castellan and landowner at Roscinin [Roscimin?], Biale Kosy, and Sokolniki in 1283. These are all discussed in Volume One.

Mikolaj was Łęczyca castellan in 1381. In 1451 Piotr of Krempa, Kujawy pastor, funded an altar at the cathedral there named "Ascension of the Lord," see Damalewicz in Praepos. Vladislav. Jan, Bishop of Poznan, called Gerbisz by some and Traditor [Latin, "traitor"] by others, was a Poznan canon when he was elected by the chapter for that see; in 1286 he was confirmed by Jakób Swinka, Archbishop of Gniezno, and consecrated at the Lad monastery. During his days the Santok pastorate was taken away from the jurisdiction of the Bishops of Poznan by Duke Otto the Tall and attached to the Soldin [Myslib6rz?] chapter, and Jan turned a blind eye to it, even though it diminished his diocese. He died in 1298 and was buried in the Poznan cathedral, per Długosz in Episc. Posnan. [Bishops of Poznan].

Mikolaj, bishop of Poznan, was a Gniezno chanter and Poznan scholastyk [member of a chapter who managed a cathedral or collegial school] when in 1382 he was elevated to the miter by a free vote of the chapter; he was a pious, modest man, generous to the poor. He was confirmed in that see by Jan Suchywilk, Gniezno archbishop; but Ludwik, King of Poland and Hungary, was offended that the election was held without his consent, and at the request of Duke Wladyslaw of Opole elevated his nephew, Jan Holit or Kropidlo, to this see. To be sure Mikolaj, wishing to return to the King's good graces, traveled to Buda in Hungary with his request, and when King Ludwik turned him down, he set out for Rome; but was detained at Tarvisium on Ludwik's orders and not allowed to go further until Kropidlo had settled in as bishop. As for Pope Urban, in the first place he did not want to alienate the King while schism was tearing apart the church of God, and in the second place he was a good friend of Kropidlo; so in accordance with Kropidlo's wishes he bowed to Ludwik's will and gave him the Poznan miter. See Długosz, Vitae Episcop. Posnan. (Lives of the Bishops of Poznan].

Also of this house: Jan, bishop of Płock, son of Count Abraham, taken to that see in 1310, died in 1318 and was buried in Płock; also Jan, Gniezno scholastic, whom Kromer's book mentioned in 1283. Paprocki says that he was later Bishop of Chelm, but this does not hold up because at that time there were no Bishops of Chelm, nor did they begin soon after. Other ancestors of this house are spoken of under their family affiliations. Dobrogost of Kolno of Nalecz arms was Kamieniec castellan in 1548. Jan Socha Nalecz was royal scribe under King Jagiello. See Bielski. Bartlomiej of Wissemburg defeated the Teutonic Knights, see Bielski, p. 339,Cromer, book 20.